NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ:NWE) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $73.30.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NWE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of NorthWestern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of NorthWestern to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Barclays increased their price target on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on NorthWestern from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded NorthWestern from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in NorthWestern by 23.8% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 75,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,965,000 after purchasing an additional 14,478 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 479.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 707,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,683,000 after purchasing an additional 585,768 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of NorthWestern by 4,774.6% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,252,000 after purchasing an additional 211,705 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 34.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 56,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,721,000 after buying an additional 14,427 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 76,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,015,000 after buying an additional 17,200 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NorthWestern Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWE opened at $71.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.83. NorthWestern has a fifty-two week low of $54.89 and a fifty-two week high of $75.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.01. The company has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 25.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.34.

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.08. NorthWestern had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The firm had revenue of $392.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that NorthWestern will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

NorthWestern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. NorthWestern’s payout ratio is presently 96.75%.

NorthWestern Company Profile

NorthWestern Corporation (NASDAQ: NWE) is a regulated energy company that delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its Electric Operations and Gas Operations segments, the company operates an extensive network of distribution lines, substations and pipelines. NorthWestern’s services encompass the delivery of power sourced from regional transmission systems and the procurement, storage and distribution of natural gas to end users.

Electric delivery services include the management of distribution infrastructure, customer metering and system reliability programs.